Eight or eighth?
eight is a number meaning “A numerical value equal to 8; the number occurring after seven and before nine”; eighth is an adjective meaning “The ordinal form of the number eight”. Use eight as a number and eighth as an adjective. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) eight is about 6.6 times as common as eighth.
What is the difference between eight and eighth?
| eight | eighth | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | number, noun | adjective, noun, verb |
| Meaning | A numerical value equal to 8; the number occurring after seven and before nine Describing a group or set with eight elements The digit/figure 8 | The ordinal form of the number eight The person or thing in the eighth position One of eight equal parts of a whole |
| Example | He works eight hours a day | Two bits equals two eighths of a dollar |
| Forms | aught | none |
| Pronunciation | /eɪt/ /eʈ/ /ɛ(j)ʈ/ | /eɪtθ/ /eɪθ/ |
| In writing | 105 times per million words | 16 times per million words |
Sources: eight and eighth in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of eight and eighth
eight
- 1
A numerical value equal to 8; the number occurring after seven and before nine
- 2
The digit/figure 8
- 3
Alternative spelling of ait (island in a river)
- 4
Describing a group or set with eight elements
He works eight hours a day
- 5
Any of the four cards in a normal deck with the value eight
- 6
A light, narrow rowing boat, especially one used in competitive rowing, steered by a cox, in which eight rowers each have two oars
- 7
A race in which such craft participate
- 8
The eight people who crew a rowing-boat
eighth
- 1
The ordinal form of the number eight
- 2
The person or thing in the eighth position
- 3
To divide by eight
- 4
One of eight equal parts of a whole
Two bits equals two eighths of a dollar
- 5
slangAn eighth of an ounce, or approximately 3.5 grams, of marijuana or other drugs
- 6
An interval by doubling in pitch frequency
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, eight or eighth?
eight appears 105 times per million words; eighth 16 times per million words.
eight 105 times per million wordseighth 16 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search eight vs eighth?
“eight vs eighth” is searched about 20 times a month on Google and 10 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“eighth vs eight”, “eight or eighth”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.